These 20 questions were solicited from the public and refined by experts at America's leading nonpartisan science and engineering organizations. The questions are also available at http://sciencedebate.org/20qs.

President Obama, Senator McCain, and Governor Romney answered similar questions in 2008 and 2012. Our promotion of their responses garnered more than 850 million earned media impressions for the candidates each cycle.

We kindly request the following:

A) Please submit written responses to the questions by September 6.

B) Please attend a forum, hosted by our organizations, to discuss your positions on these 20 major policy questions, broadcast by a mutually agreed upon broadcast partner.

Science, engineering, health and environmental issues affect every voter's life as profoundly as the foreign policy, economic policy, and faith and values candidates often discuss on the campaign trail. In order to successfully manage these increasingly complex issues in the policymaking process, we need to find new ways to incorporate them into our national dialog. Your leadership will help the nation in that process, and polling shows that 87 percent of American voters want to know candidates' views on these broad issues before they vote.